Anyone who stops off here regularly will be aware that organ donation is near and dear to my heart. In fact, we used the Kamloops Kidney Walk that was held on Sunday to promote organ donation, not just kidney donation.

That is what the WHL, along with Don Cherry and his family, are doing this hockey season. Organ donation is near and dear to the Cherry family, too, what with Don’s son Tim having received a kidney from his sister Cindy in 1979. At the time, Tim was 13, while Cindy was 22 and a university student.

This season, Don will be actively involved with the WHL in a program that is aimed at promoting organ donation. The promotion will hit all 17 Canadian WHL centres, mostly in October or March, with one stop this month.

In fact, the Prince Albert Raiders are first up when they play host to the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday.

From a WHL news release:

“The first 1,000 fans in attendance (at each selected game) will receive a special-edition Don Cherry bobblehead, while other fans will receive a limited-edition Don Cherry trading card, courtesy of Upper Deck.

“On the ice, WHL clubs will sport their own unique and specially designed Don Cherry-themed uniforms. Fans will have the opportunity to bid on the limited-edition sweaters, with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to local chapters of The Kidney Foundation. In addition to game-worn uniforms, fans will have the chance to bid on one Don Cherry-autographed jersey in each participating WHL market.”

For the Prince Albert game, the sweater auction begins today (Tuesday) at noon MT at raiderhockey.com/jersey-auctions. Bids open at $25, but you may purchase a sweater for $400. The bidding will be open until Friday at noon MT.

Any sweaters not purchased outright for $400 will be available through silent auction during the Raiders’ Friday and Saturday games. The silent auction is to end five minutes into the third period of Saturday night’s game.

These days, Cindy Cherry is a fund development and marketing manager for The Kidney Foundation of Canada. As she says in the news release:

“Creating awareness surrounding the importance of organ donation in Canada is both close to my heart and paramount to helping people across this beautiful country of ours. It makes you wonder why everyone hasn’t registered to be an organ donor like I have.”

This promotion is aimed at providing more people with the information they need to process as they ponder registering to be an organ donor.

According to the Canadian Transplant Society, more than 1,600 Canadian are added to organ wait lists yearly. As well, “a 90 per cent majority of Canadians support organ and tissue donation, but fewer than 20 per cent have made plans to donate.”

The Swift Current Broncos’ annual general meeting was told Monday night that the WHL team made $135,922 for the 2016-17 season. . . . The Broncos got into the second round of the playoffs and played host to six games, which helped them show a profit for a fourth straight season. . . . A year ago, the Broncos announced a profit of $140,000, although it would have been a $93,000 loss were it not for extraordinary income from the World Women’s Curling Championship that was held in Swift Current and the franchise’s share of Memorial Cup profits. The 2016 tournament was held in Red Deer.

In 2016-17, there wasn’t any extraordinary income, so this profit stands on its own.

From a Broncos’ news release:

· With great crowds in the second half of the season, the average attendance increased to 2,006 per game, an increase of 37 per game from last season.

· The Broncos had seven straight sell outs — the final regular-season game of the season and six playoff games.

· Staff and players contributed 352 hours to Swift Current and surrounding communities, including delivering season tickets, presentations to schools, and community events. We donated (more than) $6,000 worth of merchandise and tickets to various community and organizational fundraising events.

The Seattle Thunderbirds shut down their office early on Monday, and for good reason. . . . The Thunderbirds packed up their entire organization — players, staff, owners, doctors and billets — and headed for the state capital in Olympia where they were honoured by Gov. Jay Inslee at an afternoon reception recognizing their 2016-17 WHL championship. . . . There’s more right here.

The Calgary Hitmen have acquired D Ryely McKinstry, 19, from the Vancouver Giants for an undisclosed conditional selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft. . . . McKinstry, from Calgary, was a second-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft. He sat out all of last season with concussion-related issues. In 2015-16, he had one goal and one assist in 11 games. In 43 career games, all with the Giants, he has three goals and three assists. . . . McKinstry had been playing with the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers. The Hitmen say he should make his debut with them on Friday against the host Prince Albert Raiders.

The Tri-City Americans have trimmed the number of 20-year-olds on their roster by waiving veteran D Brendan O’Reilly, who played three seasons with them. O’Reilly has cleared waivers and is a free agent. He had one goal and six assists in 66 games last season, leaving him with career totals of three goals and 13 assists in 153 games. . . . O’Reilly’s departure leaves the Americans with three 20-year-olds — G Patrick Dean, F Maxwell James and F Jordan Topping. . . . Each WHL team is allowed to dress a maximum of three 20-year-olds per game. Teams with more than three on their roster have until Oct. 10 to get down to the maximum.

The Los Angeles Kings have signed F Jaret Anderson-Dolan, 18, to a three-year entry-level contract. Anderson-Dolan, from Calgary, is expected to return to the Spokane Chiefs for a third season. . . . He was selected by the Kings in the second round of the NHL’s 2017 draft after putting up 39 goals and 37 assists in 72 games with the Chiefs. In 142 career games with Spokane, he has 53 goals and 49 assists. . . . With the Kings, he has a goal and two assists in seven exhibition games.

If you like what you see here, you may want to consider donating to the cause. Should you choose to help out, simply click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner of this page and away you go. Thank you!

F Jake Leschyshyn has been returned to the Regina Pats by the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights. He was a second-round selection by the Knights in the NHL’s 2017 draft. Leschyshyn has been with the Golden Knights while he rehabbed a knee injury from January 2017. He later underwent surgery. The injury limited him to 47 games, during which he had 17 goals and 23 assists. . . .

The Swift Current Broncos have released D Christian Reimer, 17, from their roster. From Regina, he will spend a second season with the midget AAA Swift Current Legionnaires. Reimer had nine goals and 11 assists in 40 games with the Legionnaires last season.

Monday-Tuesday:

No Games Scheduled.

Wednesday (all times local):

Swift Current at Regina, 7 p.m.

If you would like to contact Taking Note with information, have a question or just feel like commenting on something, feel free to send an email to greggdrinnan@gmail.com. I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).